Bitcoin breaks $4000 – BetaNews

The price of Bitcoin continues to rise, with the cryptocurrency now trading at over $4,000. It’s only a matter of days since the price set at record when it passed $3,500, but this has now been broken already.

The surge has been driven by Japanese interest in the currency, and trading currently stands at just under $4,200. After something of a wobbly period, the rise in Bitcoin has been fuelled by investors seeing it as a quick way to make a healthy return.

The recent creation of Bitcoin Cash did not kill off the cryptocurrency in the way some feared. Rather the forking of Bitcoin seems to have renewed interest in the currency, and the current trading price means that Bitcoin has more than quadrupled in value. The market value of Bitcoin is around $64 billion at the moment.

It’s not clear how long Bitcoin will be able to continue its seemingly inexorable rise, or quite when the bubble will burst — for burst it must. Investors have ensured something of a rollercoaster ride with Bitcoin, and while many people have been able to make a decent return on their investment, there are plenty of others who have lost out.

While Bitcoin has risen in value by 7 percent over the last 24 hours, its counterpart Ethereum has dropped by nearly 4.5 percent.